Akila Praeceps
' ]]Akila Praeceps' is a character in Ex Libris Lucifer. Born in the settlement of Pharengart, his career as a Book Mage began when he was trained as a cryptographer by the Union of Librarians, during which he lived mostly in the Library of Eldrake. The 10-Year War came to a close during his mid-twenties, and a few years later he resigned from his position in the organization and spent the adjoining years working as a mercenary. Unknown to most, he is currently a member of Lucifer's Library. Despite what his years as a mercenary would suggest, Akila is not an inherently violent man. His intellectual side and perceptive nature are still key parts of his personality, and he prefers to spend his words conservatively. Since leaving the Libraries he has spent his life in search of a new purpose for himself and his talents. Attributes Appearance Akila possesses a fairly large build, with unkempt black hair that goes down to his neck. A faint scar goes through his left eye and ends just before his lip. He always wears leather combat armour while travelling, but will sometimes wear a hooded mages robe over it while in a settlement or an area he feels is safe. Other equipment includes sheaths for his shortsword and dagger, and a backpack containing his spellbook, ink, pens, rations and other travelling supplies. Skills Cryptographer/Code Breaker Akila is trained cryptography, a skill he used during the 10-Year War to decode Freedom Faction communications and to secure messages and information within the Libraries. *Break Encryption - Akila can decrypt a piece of text and reveal secret messages by figuring out its secret key with high efficiency, a skill he rarely exercises after leaving the Libraries. *Create Encrypted Message - Akila can create messages within messages, almost undetectable to those who are not the intended recipient, and his secret keys are difficult to decipher. This is his primary method of communicating with the Lucifer's Library. Daily Life *Gather Information - Akila's high perception makes him talented at noticing subtle clues in his surroundings and in social situations, and during conversations he can pick out and gain information from even the most trivial of details. This enables him to gather information about a location or event faster than the average person would be able to, which helped with finding jobs as a mercenary. *Disguise Class - Akila noticed early on in his mercenary career that, as a Book Mage, he would almost exclusively be targeted by opponents in battles, rather than any fellow mercenaries that were aiding him. This prompted him to learn to wear armour and use weapons so that his appearance less resembled a Book Mage for the main purpose of removing the metaphorical bullseye from his back. *Repair Equipment - Over the years Akila has learned how to repair and upkeep his weapons and armour, lowering their chances of breaking mid-battle. Physical Combat *Shraikstern - Akila gradually picked up this combat style through exposure to and lessons from other practitioners while working as a mercenary. He now has respectable proficiency in the skill, preferring to use it to counter opponents who naturally try to melee the mage. He uses a shortsword and a dagger. *Self Defence - If completely unarmed, Akila can put up a somewhat decent fight with the use of fisticuffs and clubbing an enemy with his spellbook, though he lacks knowledge in any hand-to-hand techniques. Magecraft *Scribe - Like all fully trained Book Mages, Akila can scribe his own spells, though his created spells are inferior to those of a Book Mage who specializes as a scribe. However, Akila can create or edit scrolls and spells so that they have signs or messages that only another highly talented Translator can interpret. If he has used his translation skill on the spell of an individual Book Mage, he will sometimes be able to scribe spells that counter the spells made by said Book Mage. This is only viable with Book Mages who have a very distinct and consistent scribing style. *Translator - Akila's gift lays in translation. There are few spells which he cannot decode of all sentiment and meaning, which made him a valuable asset to the Union of Librarians during the 10-Year War. *Reader - Like all fully trained Book Mages, Akila is competent at reading and casting spells, both his own and those made by others. He prefers to cast spells made by other Book Mages, as his skills as a translator help him unlock the true potential of a good spell, but he cannot improve the effect of a poorly made spell. Other *Sea Savvy - Over his years as a mercenary, Akila has had to work as part of a ship's crew many times in order to travel between islands. He has gained acceptable competence in several tasks related to sailing a boat, but far from enough to captain one himself. *Historical Analysis - While archaeology is not something Akila specializes in, his knowledge of Granea's history and perception towards small details allow him to place most object's date and origin with fairly sound accuracy. As a mercenary this only really came up while tomb raiding. History Related Links Characters | Supporting Characters